Tabs

Using permaculture ethics & design principles to transform an old energy guzzling bungalow into a showcase of sustainable design. It's about energy cycling, building community, self-reliance,creatively using & reusing materials... all without spending heaps of money.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Social change projects from around the world with Kai Saywer

Here's an invitation that I' putting out there for an event at our place - you can accept the invitation on the facebook event - be great to see you here.

City Repair project in Portland USA

Kai Sawyer, peace activist, student of nonviolence, and permaculture educator from Japan, shares his story of exploring the world of "peace" and "sustainability" in a 2-3 hour presentation at Abdallah House in Seymour. (1a Abdallah Road)

Please join us at 6pm for a Pot Luck dinner (bring food to share) before the presentation which will begin at 7:30pm. Space is limited to around 30 guests, so please indicate if you want to come. Kai will be requesting for a donation, so please consider contributing.

"From the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to living in the jungle of Costa Rica with no running water or electricity, to my visits to various amazing permaculture communities. My story focuses more on people and relationships (social permaculture), social change and empowerment, rather than food production. I conclude with how I am cultivating the cultural soil to plant radical practices of peace and ecology through my project called Tokyo Urban Permaculture.

"Both show case not just food systems but thriving communities that are impacting the larger society. The Bullocks is a rural example where 12 interns are trained each year to learn any skill they want and experiment with designing culture/community. City Repair is an urban example of residents reclaiming public space and illegally taking over a intersection, creating a beautiful mandala painting, earthen benches, kids playhouse, free tea station, etc. Eventually the persuaded the city government that it was for the public good, and their illegal action has been legalize (they call it legal innovation). Now the city actively promotes this behavior and City Repair has pioneered urban ecological design and community renewal.

Kai's bio

Kai is a nonviolence activist or 共生革命家 in Japanese. Born in Tokyo, raised in rural Japan (Minami Uonuma), Hawaii, Osaka, California, and the jungle of Costa Rica. He considers the earth his home.

After the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA and subsequent US invasions, Kai began to engage with issues of war, structural violence, intergenerational justice, agroecology and sustainability, while attending the University of California Santa Cruz. He became the co-chair for the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP), a radical educational experiment that collaborated with world-class sustainability leaders such as Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar, and Frances Moore Lappe. ESLP facilitated institutional change through student empowerment and participatory action research.

He founded Tokyo Urban Permaculture as an experiment to fundamentally transform the culture and politics of Tokyo, after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in 2011. He teaches permaculture, nonviolent communication, mindfulness, systems thinking, social change and about the gift economy (gift ecology) around the world. Currently, he is training youth activists in Japan on nonviolence, and is developing a “Peace and Permaculture Dojo” to train the next generation of change makers in Japan.

He is passionate about life, gardening, and alleviating suffering of all beings.

Do-it-Yourselfer column

You can check out the Do-it-Yourselfer articles that I write for our local newspaper on the Permaculture Principles website - CLICK HERE - or click the button below to visit the home page.

Consider joining BEAM with me

Live in or around the Mitchell Shire in Victoria? Find out what BEAM is on about.

Internationally relevant and filled with inspirational and thought provoking images. Including daily icons and moon phase times to guide your planting, and an example of a design principle for each month.

Permaculture: A Rhymer's Manual

An album featuring all 12 of the permaculture design principles - lettuce turnip the radish beets and rocket!